1853.] OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION. 269 
The constructive principle of a style depends upon the manner 
in which it connects distant masses, as when two walls are con- 
nected by a roof, or two jambs united into a doorway. This con- 
nexion must be effected in one of two ways, either by the Entabla- 
ture or the Arch. In the Entablature system the two upright 
masses are connected by a third laid on the top of them, and kept 
together simply by cohesion; in the Arch system, the connexion 
is effected by a series of masses (technically called voussoirs) 
which, when arranged in a certain manner, are kept together 
without direct support from below, according toa certain law of 
the mechanical powers. The entablature can only have one direc- 
tion, one essentially horizontal; but of the arch there are two 
principal forms, the round and the pointed, whose esthetical effect 
is widely different. Hence we have three principal forms, the 
Entablature, the Round Arch, the Pointed Arch; each having its 
own leading idea, those respectively of horizontal extension, of 
simple rest, and of vertical extension, which are found carried to 
perfection in the three great styles of architecture, the Grecian, 
the Romanesque, and the Gothic, 
The simple unadorned construction of the entablature may be 
traced in many primitive monuments, such as the disinterred 
cromlechs of north-western Eu rope, the so called Druidical circles 
of the same region, and some of the rudest among the Pelasgian 
gateways of Greece and Italy. In a decorative form it produced 
Several important Styles of architecture, the native Indian, Persian, 
and Egyptian styles (all of which must be carefully distinguished 
from the later works of the Mahometan conquerors in the same 
countries), and its perfection, the pure and unsurpassable architec- 
ture of Greece. 
These four agree in their constructive principle ; they differ in 
their constructive origin. The Indian and Egyptian are derived 
from the imitation of excavations in the rock, the Persian and 
Grecian from the imitation of erections of timber. Passing: by the 
two inferior and less important styles of India and Persia, the 
Lecturer proceeded to contrast at length the two great forms of 
entablature architecture, the Egyptian and the Grecian. 
On this head he warmly combated the idea that Grecian archi- 
tecture was in any way borrowed from Egyptian. He would not 
at all depreciate the high positio. belonging to the Egyptian 
nation, as having attained a great degree of civilization at a very 
early period, or the great merit of the Egyptian architecture as 
the first distinct style developed, and one ina high degree stately 
and solemn, and admirably adapted to the nature of the country 
and to the genius and the religion of its inhabitants. But he could 
never admit that a Stationary, undeveloping people could ever have 
had any important influence on a nation whose every product bears 
the stamp of originality, and which has been the permanent teacher 
